by C. L. Werner
Unable to leave the cannon, the shell’s violence was forced back on the warjack. Its right arm sheared away in a blaze of flame, its hull was scored by the wreckage of its own gun. The Toro trembled, swayed from one side to the other, a droning roar rattling through its steel bulk. Then it keeled over, crashing onto its back, the glow fading from its optics. Rutger hunkered down behind a heap of coal as armor plates and bits of shrapnel clattered down around him. Only when the patter of metal abated did he dare to raise his head.
Smoke from the destroyed warjack blinded him for a moment. As he blinked away tears, he saw Taryn cautiously making her way towards the ruined hulk.
Forcing his legs to follow her, Rutger reached Taryn as she was staring down at the wrecked warjack, a magelock clenched in her hand.
“Why can’t the bad guys buy anything on the cheap!” Rutger complained, clapping an arm across her shoulder, ignoring the shiver of pain that raced down his side.
She gave the twisted machinery a concerned look. “It’s not going to get up again, is it?”
Rutger shook his head. “No, but it’ll be a good salvage job for somebody,” he told her.
There was something in his tone that Taryn didn’t like. She pulled away from him, staring hard into his bloodied, battered face. Yes, there was no mistaking the gleam in his eyes. “You can’t be serious,” she snarled.
Rutger didn’t answer her, instead turning to regard the blazing wreck of the Jhordwolf as it slowly sank into the channel. “Not a bad day’s work,” he declared. “The heir is on the run, and thanks to the explosion, Olt’s entire gang is scattered across the bottom of the bay. The only black spot was the escape of the cutthroat himself.”
Taryn followed Rutger’s gaze for a moment, then a hard edge crept back onto her face. “Rutger,” she said. “What you said about salvage…”
“Olt didn’t get that ’jack on the cheap,” Rutger repeated, but this time there was wistfulness rather than complaint in the words.
Taryn stared down at the Toro’s wrecked hull, feeling a cold finger slide down her back. Even smashed and blown-apart the warjack looked as menacing and murderous as the hordes of Cryx. She glanced back at Rutger’s gleaming eyes.
“I bet it would be great with a hammer,” he began.
“Don’t even think about it,” Taryn hissed.
IRON KINGDOMS INDEX
Ancient Icthier: An ancient city in the southernmost Protectorate, deemed the source of western Immoren’s Menite civilization and the original Canon of True Law.
Armsdeep Lake: This is a massive lake and river at the heart of Rhul, and source of the Black River. The Rhulic cities of Ghord, Ulgar, and Brunder are along its shores.
Battlegroup: A warcaster and the warjacks he controls.
Berck: Ordic port city, largest city in Ord and home port of the Ordic Royal Navy.
Black River: Longest river in western Immoren, which connects Rhul, Llael, and Cygnar. Merywyn, Corvis, and Caspia-Sul rest on this river and it forms the eastern border of Cygnar, separating it from the Bloodstone Marches.
Blackclad: Term applied to enigmatic and potentially dangerous mystics who are part of an ancient secret society that draws on the destructive power of the elements and the wilderness.
Blackwater: Cryxian port city and home to its pirate raider fleet.
Bloodstone Marches: A large barren geographical region between the Bloodstone Desert and western Immoren, occupied by tribal Idrians, farrow, and the Skorne Army of the Western Reaches.
Caen: Name of the world containing the Iron Kingdoms, Immoren, Zu, etc. Sometimes contrasted as the material world as opposed to the spiritual world of Urcaen.
Carre Dova: Ordic port city, located on the northern shore of the Bay of Stone.
Caspia: Capital of Cygnar, the ‘City of Walls’ and only human city not to fall to the Orgoth.
Ceryl: Cygnaran port city, home of the Fraternal Order of Wizardry and the Cygnaran Navy’s Northern Fleet.
Chatterstones: District of Five Fingers on Hospice Island, notable for a large mass graveyard filled during a former plague on the island.
Colossal: Massive predecessors to the modern steamjacks, these great machines were originally constructed during the Rebellion against the Orgoth.
Cortex: The highly arcane mechanikal device that gives a steamjack its limited intelligence.
Corvis: Northeastern Cygnaran city occupying the conjunction of the Black River and Dragon’s Tongue River, also called the “City of Ghosts.”
Crael Valley: Farm valley in northern Cygnar, south of Bainsmarket, briefly seized and held by Madrak Ironhide and the united kriels.
Cryx: Also known as the Nightmare Empire, an island kingdom of necromancers, undead, and pirates in southwest ruled by Toruk the Dragonfather.
Cygnar: Southernmost of the Iron Kingdom, ruled by King Leto Raelthorne, bearing the Cygnus on its flag.
Deepwood Tower: Northern Cygnaran border fortress, destroyed in 608 AR.
Dragon: Immortal and unnatural creatures spawned by Lord Toruk, the first and greatest of their number. Dragons are hostile to one another, and particularly to their progenitor, and rarely notice the affairs of lesser beings.
Dragon’s Tongue River: River stretching from Corvis to the Bay of Stone which separates Cygnar from Ord and is relied upon by a number of river towns such as Point Bourne, Tarna, and Five Fingers.
Drer Drakkerung: Ruins of the former Orgoth capital city on the Garlghast Island, now claimed by Cryx and deemed a seat of Lich Lord Terminus.
Eastwall: Southeastern Cygnaran fortress along the Black River.
Fellig: Northern Cygnaran city in the Thornwood, currently partly occupied by Ordic troops and cut off from Cygnar.
Fisherbrook: Former Cygnaran town north of the Dragon’s Tongue River, razed in 607 AR by the Protectorate’s Northern Crusade.
Five Fingers: Ordic port city known for its gambling, criminal gangs, and smuggling trade, also known as ‘the Port of Deceit.’
Garlghast: Northernmost and largest of the Scharde islands, site of former Orgoth capital of Drer Drakkerung, partially occupied by Cryx.
Ghord: Capital of Rhul, on northeastern shore of Armsdeep Lake.
Gobber: A diminutive race of inquisitive, nimble, and entrepreneurial individuals that have adapted well to the cities of men. Most gobbers are around three feet tall. Gobbers are known to have undeniable aptitude for mechanikal devices and alchemy.
Gun Mage: An arcanist capable of channeling their arcane energy into rune shots fired from their magelock pistols.
Hammerfall: Western Rhulic fortress protecting the western approaches through the mountains to Ghord.
Hellspass: An ancient ogrun city once conquered by the Khardic Empire and now part of Khador.
Horgenhold: Southern Rhulic fortress protecting the southern approaches to the Rhulic interior, including the road from Leryn and the Black River.
Highgate: Cygnaran coastal city, home of the Southern Fleet of the Cygnaran Navy and headquarters of the Cygnaran Third Army.
Imer: Capital of the Protectorate of Menoth, a relatively recently expanded city near the Erud Hills.
Immoren: Continent containing the Iron Kingdoms, Ios, Rhul, the Skorne Empire, and the lands between them. Much of Immoren remains unexplored, and its inhabitants have had limited contact with other continents.
Ios: Isolationist nation east of Llael and north of the Bloodstone Marches, Ios was founded long before the nations of men by survivors of a destroyed empire called Lyoss.
Iosan: Inhabitants of Ios, a long lived elven race that has suffered a long gradual decline and faces an imminent cosmological catastrophe.
Iron Kingdoms: Initially the four nations founded after the Orgoth Rebellion: Cygnar, Khador, Llael, and Ord. The Protectorate of Menoth, founded after the Cygnaran Civil War and having recently declared its independence from Cygnar, became the fifth Iron Kingdom. With the conquest of Llael, little of that kingdom remains free.
Jack Marshal: A person who has learned how to give precise verbal orders to a steamjack to direct them in conducting labor or battle. A highly useful occupational skill, although lacking the versatility or finesse afforded by the direct mental control of steamjacks exercised by a warcaster.
Khador: Northernmost of the Iron Kingdoms, once a kingdom and now an empire. The Khadoran Empire is ruled by Empress Ayn Vanar.
Khardov: Industrial city in western Khador that is also a major hub of the Khadoran railway.
Korsk: Capital of Khador and that nation’s largest city, located on the eastern shore of Lake Great Zerutsk.
Lake Great Zerutsk: Largest of the three large lakes surrounding Korsk in central Khador.
Leryn: Former Llaelese city and birthplace of the Order of the Golden Crucible, now the seat of the Protectorate’s Northern Crusade. Occupied by Khadorans during the Llaelese war and was subsequently taken by the Protectorate.
Llael: Once the easternmost Iron Kingdom; largely conquered during the Llaelese War from 604-605 AR and presently divided between Khador, the Protectorate, and the Llaelese Resistance.
Mechanika: The fusion of mechanical engineering and arcane science.
Mercir: Southern Cygnaran coastal city, home of the Mercarian League.
Meredius, the: Western ocean, only successfully crossed by the Orgoth.
Merin: Capital city of Ord.
Merywyn: Former capital of Llael, presently the most important industrial city held in the Khadoran occupied territory.
Midfast: Northern Ordic city and fortress, along the Khadoran border.
Nightmare Empire, The: Cryx.
Northguard: Formerly a northern Cygnaran border fortress, successfully besieged and taken by Khador in 608 AR, presently serving as a resupply fortress for the Khadoran Army.
Nyss: Cousins of the Iosans, the Nyss are a race of wild hunters who wants claimed large portions of northern Khador as their territory. Largely decimated by the emergence of the Legion of Everblight, the surviving Nyss are largely refugees dependant on Khador and Ios.
Ogrun: A large and physically powerful race renowned for their great strength and honor. Most ogrun are citizens of Rhul, though they can be found throughout the Iron Kingdoms and are also present in Cryx.
Olgunholt: Forest in southern Ord and that nation’s most important source of lumber.
Ord: Iron Kingdom on the western coast between Khador and Cygnar, largely neutral in the recent wars and seen as a haven for mercenary companies.
Orgoth: A fearsome race of men who invaded and enslaved western Immoren for centuries. The Orgoth arrived in great numbers on Immoren’s western shores and soon conquered the human kingdoms of the era, and were driven out just over four hundred years ago.
Protectorate of Menoth: Southeastern theocracy dedicated to the god Menoth. Considered the fifth Iron Kingdom, though it did not exist at the time of the Corvis Treaties.
Redwall: Llaelese fortress on the Khadoran border, destroyed 604 AR.
Rune Shot: The specially crafted rune inscribed bullets used by gun mages to channel their arcane energies into.
Rhul: Northeastern dwarven nation bordering Khador, Llael, and Ios; natives called Rhulfolk.
Rhulfolk: The dwarves of Rhul. A tenacious and skilled people who have long traded with the nations of man.
Scharde Islands: Island group southwest of Cygnar, named after the largest island that has become the heart of Cryx. The majority of the Scharde Islands are part of the Nightmare Empire while those that are contested are preyed upon by Cryx.
Sul: Western Protectorate city, formerly half of Caspia east of the Black River, ceded after the Cygnaran Civil War.
Spiritgrav: A district of Five Fingers noted for its production of alcoholic spirits, a major source of income for the city.
Steamjack: A steam powered mechanikal construct designed in a variety of configurations and sizes, used for both labor and warfare throughout the Iron Kingdoms, Cryx, and Rhul.
Tarna: Southern Ordic city on the Dragon’s Tongue River, the site where the first sorcerers were discovered during the Rebellion against the Orgoth.
Thuria: Ancient human kingdom conquered by Tordor centuries before the arrival of the Orgoth, presently divided between southern Ord and northern Cygnar.
Thurian: A cultural group of the people of southern Ord and northern Cygnar who share common ancestry.
Tordor: Ancient human kingdom renowned for its great fleet.
Tordoran: A cultural group of the people of northern Ord, including among them the most powerful land-owning nobility and the royal line.
Trollkin: A hardy race related to full blooded trolls. Trollkin live both in their own communities on the fringes of civilization and amongst the cities of man.
Uldenfrost: A small city of trappers and hunters on Khadors northern-most, western-most fringe.
Umbrey: Former human kingdom centered in what is now eastern Khador and formerly northwestern Llael.
Urcaen: A mysterious cosmological realm that is the spiritual counterpart of Caen, where most of the gods reside and where most souls pass to experience the afterlife. It is divided between protected divine domains and the hellish wilds where the Devourer Wurm stalks.
Veld: Iosan name for Urcaen.
Void: Two different meanings: the emptiness surrounding Urcaen from which undead banes arise; and where skorne souls are cast after death if not preserved in sacral stones. It is unknown if these two uses describe the same place.
Warcaster: Arcanists born with the natural ability to control steamjacks with their minds. With proper training warcasters become singular military assets and among the greatest soldiers of western Immoren, entrusted to command scores of troops and their own battlegroups of warjacks in the field. Acquiring and training warcasters is a high priority for any military force that employs warjacks.
Warlock: An arcanist with the ability to bond to and mentally control savage or enslaved beasts.
Warbeast: A savage beast bonded to a warlock.
Warjack: A highly advanced and well armed steamjack created or modified for war.
Zu: Little explored continent south of Immoren, engaged in lucrative trade with the Immorese for certain exotic goods.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
C.L. Werner was fist published in 1999 with the short story Inferno! and has moved on to become a New York Times bestselling author inside the field of licensed fantasy. He is an avid reader, tabletop miniatures gamer, and fan of H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury.
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First printing: April 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-939480-01-9
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Table of Contents
MAP
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
IRON KINGDOMS INDEX